A typical process of attaching a deck board to aluminum joists involves pre-drilling holes through one or more deck boards into one or more aluminum joists and securing fasteners in the predrilled holes. This approach, though useful, has some disadvantages. For example, seasonal movement of the deck board during cycles of heat and cold can increase the tendency of fasteners to fail in shear. In coastal areas, galvanic reactivity between a stainless fastener and an aluminum joist can cause a fastener to corrode. A corroded fastener can no longer be retracted, because it will break at the weakened connection point. Shear failure can be forestalled by a timber or other non-metallic batten, but this will add cost and time. Moreover, holes with broken fasteners cannot be reused. Instead, after removing the broken fastener and smoothing the joist surface, another hole must be drilled adjacent to the original, potentially creating a cosmetic flaw in the deck board. Furthermore, the size of the pre-drilled hole is critical. If the hole is too small, it will break the fastener or destroy its head, whereas if the hole is too large, it will lead to reduced grip force on the fastener. Pre-drilling also adds time to the process and may yield unpredictable results. For such reasons and others, further improvements in deck fixing are possible.